


Bad Habits

by posiesp



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Human, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-11
Packaged: 2019-09-16 04:12:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16946787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/posiesp/pseuds/posiesp
Summary: Josie Saltzman's life was lived in the shadows of her twin sister, Lizzie Saltzman. Where Lizzie lived in the spotlight, she watched from the sidelines; where her sister dominated the school in popularity, she walked behind her in support.Then came Penelope Park, and for once, the pieces of her life started falling into place with a person she could call her own.Until one day, Penelope broke up with her out of the blue.But somehow, whenever Penelope came knocking at her door, she always let her back in. Out of love. Out of spite. Her walls came tumbling down to let in the one girl that she knew, deep down, still loved her. In her own messed up Penelope way.Penelope Park was a bad habit—Josie's bad habit.





	Bad Habits

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. But Josie and Penelope own me.

 

“Oh, look, Josie, here comes Satan’s spawn.” Lizzie, my twin sister, spits out as my girlfriend— _ ex _ -girlfriend—saunters into class, fashionably late. As usual. Her Salvatore Boarding School uniform rode a little higher than was acceptable in a learning environment, showing off just a little bit of the toned muscle I used to literally worship. 

I could  _ feel _ Lizzie seeth beside me. “In a crop top, no less. I was really hoping she sunk back into the depths of hell,” she rolls her eyes.

“Lizzie,” I scold her, trying my hardest to keep my eyes trained on my desk, avoiding Penelope’s gaze. If she was even looking at me, that is. She probably wasn’t, though. Still, I fought the urge to check—but I did, momentarily, allow myself to sneak one glance as she took her seat next to Hope Mikaelson. Hope and Penelope were a lot more alike than they would like to admit. They both hated the company of other people, more or less. They could both break people down with a look, more or less. Last year, Penelope broke Connor’s finger, with a stiletto, when he caught me going in for a kiss when we snuck out of the school dance to go back to her dorm. It was the last time Connor said anything remotely homophobic.

Lastly, I’m pretty sure they both hated my guts. More or less.

Before Hope lost both of her parents, Hope and I were actually really good friends. She was the only friend—besides Lizzie—that I had growing up. Lizzie has always been the center of attention wherever she went, she made it her job to turn attention onto her whenever she walked into a room. Hope and I preferred the background. That’s why we got along with each other, we were the weird kids, and we both knew that.

One afternoon, Hope was called into my Dad’s office while we were in the middle of “studying” in the library. Really we were placing bets on how long it would take for MG, the most recent addition to our little group, to confess his undying love for Lizzie. 

“Hope,” Emma said, taking a seat next to us. “Alaric needs to see you in his office, honey,” her eyes betrayed her smile. All it took was that one look and Hope was racing out of the room in lightning speed. 

That was the last time we really spoke. Two years ago, huddled behind shelves of books in the library. Hope turned everyone away, including me. My Dad made it his personal mission to take her under his wing, leaving Lizzie and me in the sidelines.

It felt like I lost two people that day. 

Before I could look away, I caught the way Hope visibly looked Penelope up and down. 

It made my chest hurt.

I heard MG choke behind me and I know he saw that not-so-subtle interaction, too.

“Alas, a girl can’t always get what she wants,” Lizzie says, completely ignoring me.

“Good morning, Miss Park,” Emma, our guidance counselor turned-substitute-for-the-day, shoots her a tight smile. “Nice of you to join us.”

Penelope winks at her as she lazily twirls a strand of her long dark locks.

Before I can stop myself, I remembered the feeling of her hair when I ran my fingers through it. I used to sneak out of my shared dorm room with Lizzie when I was sure she was sleeping like the dead. I would make my way down the hall of the girl’s dorm wing and to Penelope’s room, it was on the other side of the wing but I snuck out almost every night to see her. I did it so much that I had the way memorized like the back of my hand. By the fourth night, I knew which floorboards to avoid so I wouldn’t give myself away to any creaking.

She would smile that smile that I knew she reserved just for me because Penelope Park didn’t just smile at anyone. But she would when she knew I was standing outside her dorm, and she would open it before I could even knock. Her face would be lit up as she opened the door and pulled me into her room, our own tiny universe for the few hours that we could spare being alone together. 

“I missed you, Jojo,” she would whisper into my hair as her hands locked themselves around me. 

I would sink into her body and we would fall back onto her bed and lay there, talking. Sometimes we would… do other things. But we would mostly just talk. About everything. That’s what I loved—love—about her (as much as I hate to admit it). She lost the bitchy exterior she put up with other people, and no one knew Penelope the way I did. It made me feel special. 

But she’s not my girlfriend anymore. 

The extent of our interaction only went as far as Lizzie’s death glares and Penelope’s backtalk. 

I kept my eyes glued on Emma’s lecture, but every so often, when Penelope and Hope would laugh quietly with each other, the urge to look at them was creeping its way up. But every so often, whether I was imagining it or not, I could feel her eyes on me—and it still made my heart skip a beat.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know what I'm doing with this. I may or may not add onto this later!


End file.
